Tracy Morgan Sues Wal-Mart

Tracy Morgan has sued Wal-Mart over last month's highway crash that seriously injured him and killed a fellow comedian. Tracy is asking for punitive damages and says that Wal-Mart should have known that the driver had been awake for almost 24 hours and that a 700 mile commute was unreasonable. Police determined that the driver was traveling 65 in a 45 zone and had been driving for over 13 hours without a break. Federal law says that a driver can only drive 11 hours daily and work 14.

There actually is a lot of discussion regarding truckers hours and all the federal regulations. There was a good story on NPR about a month back. It's quite scary to think about some of these truck drivers on the roads. But then again it's quite scary to see people driving cars who are texting, shaving, eating, etc.

If what he stated is correct, lawsuit is 1000% right on. Plus the waltons, owners of walmart, are gazillionaires 5 times over. Treat your people right, dont make them drive tired and you wont have a problem.

Walmart has already said they will "take responsibility" for what happen. This lawsuit is just a formality. Walmart will settle generously with all the injured parties. Confidentiality agreements will be signed and no one will ever know the amount. This is a non-story. There is no drama here.

Too bad there hasn't been a device created with an automatic shutoff. For instance after so many hours or miles there is a warning to alert the driver of the impending cutoff, then when it reaches the limit it is shutdown for a certain amount of time.

We live in a culture that in general is far too litigious. However, this case needs to be filed and often, it's victims like Tracey who actually have the means to go after corporations like WalMart. It's not about the money, but demanding institutional changes to safeguard the safety of others. WalMartakes billions but cutting corners and minimizing costs, but this also exploits laborers and endangers everyone. You GO Tracey!!!

@Hammer, there are things kinda like that in most of the trucks. With GPS and such in the rigs now. They don't have a 'kill switch' but dispatch will call and tell them to park it. More and more, there are records backed up by GPS and computers, logging hours and miles. It really is getting harder and harder to change logs.

Speaking of scary truck drivers, the ones you have to really be afraid of, the ones coming across the border. Crappy equipment, drive like the devil drivers.

I don't really know if the chain is responsible. If the driver had such awful conditions, why didn't he sue the supermarket himself? Those conditions are slavery-like. Maybe he earned his salary on the hours he worked and was no obligation (or even knowledge) from the company for him to suffer that timetable, but he is a poor person whose little money cannot give this person any joy, while the company has plenty.

@ Essie, and others who think that WalMart will roll over graciously, and do the right thing…um, no they won't. I worked at a law firm for five years and had an inside look at what attorneys did on WM's behalf in the way of busting unions. They are a collective Scrooge. They'll try to settle light, in an attempt to get ahead of the PR mess. Kind of a macro version of this story above re: the policeman's family offered $3500 (that's cruel – so sorry to hear about this).

Having Wal-Mart as a major client where I worked was a tipping point for me, and I left in 2007. Never regretted the decision.

Every large corporation operates on a cost benefit analysis model. If they settle or fight that will be the reason. Some corporations adopt a benevolent corp culture because they feel in the long run it will benefit them. They are more liked by the public but still just a part of the cost benefit analysis.

They'll settle, and for a sh*tload of money, which they can well afford to pay. Morgan and his companions are much too high profile. This was horrible publicity on top of the horrendous publicity they've had coming down the pike for years. Everyone knows they're the worst corporate retailer in the US. I haven't set foot in one in years, and no one in my family does either (except my MiL, which makes my husband go ballistic).

We don't have a Walmart in my area and I wouldn't shop there anyway. That said, I hope Tracy makes them sweat. I hope that if they try to lowball him he calls them out on it. I hope he does something to show the men and women who work for this awful company that he has them in mind.

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